Thicker than Bone
by Kestrel1
Summary: They're the best at what they do...
1. I

Disclaimer: I finally decided to break tradition and indent on every new paragraph, thanks to Roarke & Tanarus for beta reading, and I got this idea from playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and I wanted to get this down before I forgot it, so I'll finish my X-Ev/Spidey Unlimited crossover some other time.  
  
Our story opens at Mt. McKenna, on a dark day. It threatened to rain cats and dogs, much like the last time this quiet landscape saw any kind of excitement. Months ago, the summit of this mountain was blown sky-high as the secret laboratory carved deep into the mountainside met its end. Wolverine had put at least one of the mysteries of his past to rest that day, declaring that Project Weapon X had been terminated. Little did he know that some mysteries are harder to kill than he is.  
As a weak drizzling of rain fell over the rocky ground, a man standing in the middle of nowhere looked up to the sky and exhaled heavily as he enjoyed the cool sensation on his bare skin. Some distance behind him and uphill is his mysterious point of entry into the world. Half buried by rocks are the remains of a large stasis tube.  
This marvel of technology is the only surviving piece of equipment from the aforementioned explosion, not by accident, but because it was built to last. While it may look like a space-aged casket, this alloy and plastic vessel is actually a womb. The man that emerged from it mere minutes ago is the product of careful consideration for any disaster that might befall the laboratory.  
The stasis solution that continues to leak out and mix with the light rain is not truly for stasis. In addition to the perfect blend of nutrients to feed a rapidly growing cloned embryo, it contained revolutionary agents that increased the body's genetic aging process at a staggering rate. Capable of killing an organism by old age in just a few exposures, the solution was rigorously tested on various fauna until the concentration was perfect to mature the subject to its prime age, regardless of the age-retarding healing factor it possessed.  
A computerized clock was at the heart of the tube, a clock whose alarm had gone off very recently and severed the countless tubes connected to the now full-grown man suspended inside the tube. A relatively small package for all the groundbreaking technology it contained, the pod was heavily armored and, in short, was designed to survive anything without jostling a hair on the head of the mutant clone within.  
This clone had, just a short while ago, taken its first breath as its life-giving fluid slowly drained out of the tube. Heightened senses soaking in his new surroundings, his brain quickly gave way to instinct. He was a caged animal, and now was the time to escape. The tube gave way with very little movement from within to allow him a painless exit. For a while now, he had been wandering aimlessly around his new environment.  
Possibly the only flaw in the seemingly flawless creation of this clone was one that could not have possibly been foreseen. Memories popped up in his head every now and then, some so vague he took them for granted as part of the scenery, others shockingly vivid to the point where he almost felt them. He distinctly saw faces to go with the actions being played out in his head. He was half way down the mountain, however, before he recognized emotions that corresponded with the images.  
Indeed, this man, standing in the middle of nowhere, was the answer to a hotly debated question among geneticists. Did memories exist on a genetic level as well as in the human brain? Could other cells in the body actually remember things? An affirmative answer was set in stone as the man spun around at the sound a pebble skipping downhill behind him. In the blink of an eye, six bone claws shot out of his fists with a goosebump-inducing shrakt.  
  
Wolverine's claws popped out with a smooth snikt, just before they tore into a Danger Room robot. "Thanks," Cyclops barely had time to say before blasting another of the many automated defenses to bits. As Wolverine leaped over a buzzsaw that shot randomy out of the wall, a lazer blast tagged him in the calf and threw his landing off. Coming down awkwardly and painfully, he looked up to see Havok's back as the boy was taking aim at the gun that had surprised him.  
He took a long breath in through his nostrils as the wound on his leg healed over, and narrowed his eyes behind the mask when he caught a whiff of his immediate surroundings. Springing off with his other leg, Wolverine came across with both hands, ripping Havok's torso open from behind. The robot, using the same technology in Kurt's image inducer, hit the floor in pieces and faded back to its true form.  
Cyclops turned to the scene before him, jaw just short of hitting the floor. He was so distracted that he left himself wide open for a blind-side shot. Feeling the sting in his shoulder and upper arm, his good hand went to his visor and he gracefully took out the last gun before he hit the ground like a fish out of water. As the real Havok sprinted across the room to check on his brother, the simulation ended and Wolverine pulled off his mask and examined his damaged boot.  
"Shouldn't hesitate like that," Logan said as Scott tended to his injury.  
"I thought you killed my brother," he replied, just a little ticked off.  
From one of the chairs across the room, Rogue was in disbelief as well. For that brief moment, it did look like Wolverine attacked Havok without reason. That can't be normal, she thought, killing your teammates so easily. Even though it was a robot, and Wolverine could smell it right away, there was no time for a second thought when he ripped into someone. As Rogue entered the Danger Room for her, Kurt and Kitty's round, she figured that killer instinct came with the package when you had foot-long metal claws in between your knuckles.  
  
As he walked through the forest, the smells almost overwhelmed him. Every tiny thing his superhuman senses picked up trigger a chain reaction of deja vu feelings. It felt like home, but the more he thought about it, it couldn't be. He was more than an animal, he knew that from the moment he had come to life. But if he was a man...he extended his claws once again and lashed into a low-hanging tree limb. These didn't belong to a man.  
He was startled by a small gasp which blew up into a scream as he turned around and roared, bearing his claws. The fearsome mutant himself shrank back a little when he saw that he had scared the daylights out of a little girl. Was he so deep in thought that he didn't recognize the smell of a human among all these trees? But it was impossible to miss the sound of heavy footsteps running towards him and the girl.  
"What the hell?"  
The first words his ears had ever heard had the sting of anger in them. Turning to the direction of the voice, despite the echo off the trees, he only heard the click and saw down the barrel of the shotgun before it fired. Another scream from the little girl remained after the resounding gunshot. She fell dead silent when she saw the bloody crater in the man's chest close up good as new in a heartbeat.  
His eyes fluttering, the naked man's expression changed in an instant. With an animal scream, he was on the girl's father in the blink of an eye. Three claws were already deep inside his chest as the other three slashed the gun from his hands, taking a finger or two with it. He tore his enemy apart as the little girl watched, this time unable to scream.  
Turning towards the girl, he swung wildly for her throat. But deep down in his feral rage, something stopped him in a hurry when his eyes met hers. Claws vanishing, his fist passed six inches in front of her face, doing no damage but splattering some of her father's blood on her. Following through his swipe, he turned quickly and ran deeper into the woods like the animal he thought he was.  
  
"....man was brutally murdered in the forest at the foot of Mt. McKenna today, Canadian police have no leads currently, with the exception of an eyewitness account from the man's four-year-old daughter. Working with police profilers, the suspect has been described as between five foot and five foot three, shoulder-length blue hair, and claws that popped out of his hands, the young lady claims. This murder sent tremors down the east coast, as it is being compared to several other brutal slayings around the Bayville area."  
Kurt, Kitty and Evan blinked at the late-night news.  
"Five three..."  
"Shoulder lengz blue hair..."  
"And like, claws that popped out of his hands?" All three teens mentally called for the Professor.  
Minutes later, the X-Men were assembled, albeit in their pajamas. "You're sure about this?" Professor Xavier asked, having missed the news broadcast himself. The three nodded, which prompted Logan to ask the next obvious question: "You're sure you're sure?" After some prodding, the three were just about able to recite the whole segment between the three of their memories.  
"Looks like I'm headin' up North," Logan finally concluded, "Better find out what the heck is goin' on up there and why the heck it sounds like I'm the one doin' it."  
"You're not going alone," Scott asked, the last word turning to Jell-O as Logan shot him a look that indicated that the leader act should be cut immediately.  
"But, like, last time you would have gotten killed if me and Kurt weren't there!" Kitty protested. She, too, felt like phasing through the floor when he glared at her. "Fine," he said at last, not taking his eyes off her, "'Ro, Porcupine, Scott, and Elf, pack your gear." When she realized that he was done saying names, a look of genuine sadness washed over her face.  
He silently stalked back to his room to get his own things together, and the remaining X-Men slowly broke up and went back to their quarters. Kitty walked past Logan's door, purposely looking toward the other side of the hallway. "You got about half a minute," he growled, "And if you bring more than one suitcase I swear I'll dump 'em at four thousand feet." Kitty barely held back a squeal of excitement. 


	2. II

It was the middle of the night, and he had been running ever since he heard police sirens. After he was far enough away, however, he was driven by something else: The smell of food. Slowly creeping to a clearing, he almost turned back when he saw a cabin in the middle of the woods. Getting shot was not something he wanted to make a habit of.  
As soon as he set foot into the clearing, he sensed a new danger. And it sensed him right back. A mutt that looked tough enough to be part wolf was chained to a tree stump not that far from the front door. The two stared at each other for a long while, not making a move. With a swift motion, the front door was open. "If that's another one o' those damn...Jesus, bubba! What're you doin' out there, eh?"  
Muscles tensing up to run once again, there was something in the man's words that triggered another phantom memory. "L-long story...bub..." he managed to say, his eyes widening as the words came out of his mouth. He had convinced himself that he was not just an animal.  
After being shot for no reason earlier that day, he was surprised at this man's hospitality, but didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. After putting on some clothes that were a little too big on him and enjoying some cold leftovers, he just leaned back in a chair to get some rest when he caught the sun already turning the sky lighter even before it rose over the mountain.  
Thankful that the owner of the cabin didn't ask any questions other than why in God's name he was buck naked in the Canadian wilderness, he left just as the sun peeked over Mt. McKenna on the horizon. The guy had told him which way town was, and having made the decision that he did not belong living like a wild animal, it seemed the only place to go.  
  
"Only place to park is gonna be on the far side of the mountain," Wolverine mused as the Blackbird rocketed toward their destination. Storm was in the seat next to him, and in the seats behind were Cyclops, Spyke, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, all sound asleep. "What do you think killed that man, Logan?" Storm asked. "I wish I knew, 'Ro," he replied, "But I never thought I'd have to come back to this place." As if on cue, the dark silhouette of Mt McKenna appeared on the horizon with the sun just above it.  
"Are we there yet...woah, cool," Spyke said groggily, admiring the picturesque view. Logan stuck a tricky landing, concealing the jet pretty well among the trees. "Everybody up," he barked, making all the sleeping X-Men jump, "Its some walk to town."  
Evan wearing a Rangers jersey, Kurt with image inducer on, Kitty wearing Logan's jacket after finding she packed way too light for a trip up north, Ororo looking elegant without even trying as usual, and Logan with his hat pulled down tight to conceal his shoulder length blue hair, they set off.  
After an exhausting hike, they finally arrived in the nearest small city and went straight for breakfast. Later, they settled on a mediocre-looking hotel to check in to. "So why'd you pick us to come with you?" Evan asked, casually trying to figure out why he had been deprived of a good Saturday's sleep and video games to track down a murderer.  
"Not that its any o' your business, but I figure worst case scenario, Scott's a good leader, the Elf is the fastest guy we got, and you can shoot spikes outta your body. And your aunt..." Logan motioned over his shoulder as Ororo procured her credit card and paid for the room. Evan nodded. He opened his mouth to ask what about Kitty, but he knew better. He didn't figure Logan was the kind of guy to play favorites, but it was obvious that he liked Kitty better than the rest of the 'brats.'  
Presently, the X-Men took to the streets to try and find out more about the Wolverine impersonator that they seemed to be looking for. Also out that day was the young girl that had seen her father die yesterday, and her mother. Unbeknownst to all, the man who had committed the murder the day before was also wandering around that very place.  
"You seen Logan?" Scott asked as the team regrouped after splitting up for about a block. Everyone shrugged. Logan might have more experience than him, Cyclops thought, but when he was doing his lone wolf thing, who else was going to be the leader? About a dozen blocks down by now, Logan was following a strangely familiar scent.  
Jill, the girl from the forest, held tight to her mommy's hand. She was just about in complete denial, as kids can always get away with, about what had happened to her father, and was currently hating how itchy the black clothes she was being forced to wear were. She was so lost in thought and trying to hold back tears that she didn't even notice someone grab her by the other hand and someone letting go of her other hand. She didn't pay any attention to her mother screaming her name as someone else led her into the crowd of people on the street.  
Logan, meanwhile, was almost taken aback by the sudden increase in the stench he knew all too well.  
The other, stronger grip on her hand let go, bringing Jill back to the real world. Looking around for mommy, all she saw was a quick glimpse of a really tall guy before he vanished into the mess of people going about their business.  
Spinning around to meet the sudden motion behind him, Logan only caught a fast glance at Sabretooth's face before he slipped into an alley, but he knew it was him. About to go after his nemesis, Logan winced at the explosion of screaming right under his nose. Looking down at the blonde-haired little girl, he put two and two together just as her mother and two police officers came running up.  
It was hard to say who the first one to notice that Logan was five foot three and had shoulder-length blue hair, and even harder to say who threw the first punch, but in no time at all a miniature lynching had broken out. Wolverine's hands came up fast, taking one man down without even popping his claws. He knew better than to do that with cops right behind him. It was very hard to resist the urge to cut someone's guts out, however, when he was cuffed behind his back and shoved into the back seat of a squad car.  
  
At the small riot that erupted a few blocks back, the X-Men feared the worst. Dashing to where the crowd was breaking up, Kitty could have swore she saw a familiar face flash by. At second glance...  
"....Mr. Logan!" She said, louder this time, as she lightly grabbed him by the shoulder. Without warning, he spun around and grabbed her by the shoulder. Hard. A whole new wave of memories hit him. Logan...that had to be his name. And he knew this girl from somewhere...  
"Ow..." Kitty whimpered. He let go of her shoulder. "Ya surprised me," he was quick to give his version of an apology. "Yeah, I figured...so did you find anything about our mystery man?" Mystery man? He was totally clueless, but he knew he had to play along like he was this Logan guy. Heck, he could be Logan. All he knew was that he knew this girl that evidently knew him.  
"Nope, didn't find a thing," he shrugged. As she grabbed him by the hand and led him back to the others, whoever they were, he caught a scent of someone that triggered a whole slew of memories. Not good ones, either. From a safe distance away, a well-hidden Sabretooth watched his prey carefully.  
They searched without any results for the rest of the day, and around sunset the exhausted X-Men converged on a diner for some dinner. He had gotten to know their names, Scott, Evan, Ororo, Kurt and Kitty, and he found that when he heard the names he could place their faces and scents together like he'd known them all his life.  
"I don't get it," Scott said, being bold enough to discuss their mission over dinner. "Someone, someone that looks exactly like you, by all accounts, kills a man for no reason yesterday. And more--"  
"WHAT?" He snapped, catching his claws before they slid more than half an inch out of his fists. He'd played it cool all day, gathering information in bits and pieces, but this was the last straw. Someone that looked exactly like him...that means that he's not this Logan guy after all. 


	3. III

Disclaimer: My fault, never mind about that indenting thing.  
  
At that very moment, Logan looked up from his seat of honor in a musty jail cell. He was having a very hard time keeping his patience, but it finally looked like he was going to get his chance to straighten all this out as several guards unlocked his cell. Some of them were in different uniforms, though...  
He barely had time to react as they grabbed him, jammed his head against the wall, and clamped a new set of restraints over his hands, which were already cuffed behind his back. While he regained his bearings and tried to work out what kind of cuffs these were, he found himself plopped down in a chair with his hands behind the back. With a mechanical whirring noise, the new restraints tightened automatically, preventing him from moving an inch in the chair.  
He noticed that the regularly dressed cops were no longer around. Whoever was left looked like something out of...what was that movie called. Black suits and black shades, and a mean scowl on every one of them. Logan realized just how much trouble he might be in when he noticed the white X inscribed in a circle on each of their shoulders.  
"Well well, the new Weapon X, pleased to make your acquaintance," the leader of the pack gloated at the man strapped to a chair before him. "The feelin's not mutual, bub," Wolverine snarled back. "We'll just have to work on that," the man grinned, as two larger guys stepped in from the sides with some wicked-looking handheld devices that crackled with electricity.  
At this, adamantium claws pierced the restraints with a nails-on-a-chalkboard ka-sniiikt. Everyone in the room took a collective gasp, and Logan took the extra moment to kick his chair backwards and disarm the two right in front of him by neatly kicking the oversized bug zappers out of their hands. Before the chair hit the floor, he shredded through the chain that held him to the back of the chair, and cut the back of the chair off, so he was able to roll backwards right off the fall and be that much closer to escape.  
The room came to life in the form of a crowd of guards, all armed with zappers, rushing Wolverine, whose hands were still encased in his hi-tech restraints leaving him with two metal hemispheres starting at the wrist with claws sticking out. Dashing and jumping over one of his attackers, he got tagged with one of the zappers and was instantly dropped to his knees. But it had no lasting effect, and while he was down he clipped out two more guard at the knees, leaving him an open shot at the door.  
Slicing through the hinges rather than try to work the lock without the use of his fingers to grab anything, Logan barreled through the jailhouse too fast for the regular cops to lift a finger. But the zapper squad, the ones that knew him as Weapon X, were in hot pursuit. His first instinct was to hit the woods, where he was sure to lose them. But he had to warn the others. But if he went to the hotel, he'd just lead the bad guys right to the X-Men.  
The leader of the group stayed frozen in place, fuming at those who stayed with him. "You...IDIOTS...you brought me the wrong one!!!"  
  
"You're crazy, dude," Evan said, kicking back on the bed and trying to work out the cable channels in the hotel room.  
"I'm telling you, man, he's been acting veird ever since zat riot zis morning. And he's been gone for a vhile now."  
"You guys watch too much TV," Scott said, "He just went out for a walk."  
"Yeah, guys, like, what do you think happened? Some aliens switched brains with him or something, and he's not who we think he is?" Kitty joked.  
Ororo was just about to put her two cents in, having known Logan the longest out of all of them, when a bang at the door scared everyone half to death. Kitty, closest to the door, flung it open to see..."Mr. Logan? What happened?"  
"Long story, half-pint," Logan panted. He held up his hands and she wasn't sure what to make of the metal gloves he was wearing. "Help," he said, not liking to use that word. But he needed to get his hands free. Without another second of hesitation, she put her hands on his forearms and phased his hands out, leaving the heavy metal bonds to fall to the floor.  
By now, the others had crowded around the threshold, and soon they were standing in the hallway with Logan. The elevator down the hall opened, and everyone turned to see Logan walking towards them. The sounds about to come out of everyone's mouths sank like a stone as they froze in place. The mirror images of Logan looked each other over and locked eyes.  
"Put 'em up, bub," Logan said, popping his adamantium claws.  
The other Logan's eyes widened, but his face set in a snarl as he raised his fists slightly and let his bone claws extend. An epiphany of sorts struck both men at that moment. The man with the bone claws' heart just about skipped a beat when he saw six claws just like his own, except metal. Metal stronger than bone. He was weak compared to this guy...he wasn't the latest version of the product. He wasn't the best. It didn't make much difference, he knew deep down, but it was crushing to him at the moment.  
The man with the adamantium claws looked and felt like he was staring at a ghost. This guy, an exact copy of himself, had claws just like him except they were bone. His own bone. All this time, he thought that his metal claws were the product of some torturous experiment...but they were his own. Which didn't really change anything, he realized, but being caught up in the moment, it was a shocking revelation.  
By the time the surprise faded for the rest of the X-Men, it had already turned to anger for the two identical men. In the blink of an eye, they tore into each other. Not caring if they tore out some flesh on the way to locking claws, they soon found themselves knuckle to knuckle. Backing up in a hurry, Scott let out a small gasp when he saw the one with the bone claws heal faster than the one with the metal claws, who he recognized as the real Logan.  
With a sudden jerk, metal snapped bone, and two claws fell off one man's left hand. But moving his arms for the sake of offense left Logan's midsection wide open, and the seemingly faster bone-clawed man came across with his four remaining weapons. As they stepped back to regroup, another shrakt caught everyone's attention. In that brief moment, one of the Logans regenerated his lost bone claws!  
With everyone either focused on the battle happening inches in front of them or trying to piece together what the heck was happening, they took no notice of the elevator opening again until a flare skittered across the floor and stopped at their feet, blinding everyone. Nightcrawler and both Logans, having keen night vision, were rocked hardest by the wave of light, and Cyclops the least affected behind his glasses. Only he was able to vaguely make out a group of men appear and start handcuffing everyone, and several more zap both Logans in the back of the neck with what looked like taser guns on steroids. 


	4. IV

"You can't keep us here," Scott protested after being dragged down to the police station, which was strangely devoid of normal-looking officers and filled to the brim with these guys in black gear with white X's. "We've done nothing wrong."  
One of the men smiled behind his eyewear. Scott, being very good at reading expressions without looking at the eyes, knew that this guy's peepers were gleaming like pure evil. "Accessories to murder," he casually said.  
"WHAT?" The X-Men burst out.  
"Well one of those...gentlemen...in the back is wanted for murder, and you've been seen with both of them today. Seems like enough proof to me." Everyone fell silent as the situation sunk in. "And, Miss Munroe," he continued, pulling out several sheets of paper and looking at Ororo, "Your credit card has been declined." The weather witch was tempted to knock this slime through the wall with a tropical storm force wind, but kept her poker face on.  
  
Meanwhile, in the aforementioned 'back,' both men known as Weapon X were awaiting their fate. This wasn't about murder charges, they both knew, but only the one with adamantium claws had figured out any more than that. These guys weren't the police, they were from some higher authority. The same authority, he was almost sure, that bonded metal to his skeleton and cloned the guy tied up next to him. But there was one piece of the puzzle that was conspicuous by his absence. The other mutant involved in Project Weapon X.  
The one with the bone claws suddenly roared and strained against his bonds, but all in vain. They weren't going anywhere. "Ah shut up," Logan mumbled. But the fact of the matter was, he was getting a little agitated too. "Make me," Logan snarled back. When they got out of these restraints, they both swore, they'd find out who got shut up.  
  
"Ah, Mr. Creed, so glad you could join us," Evan heard someone say from across the room. The X-Men had been locked up for a while now, and the next sight they saw didn't make the experience any more pleasant. "You!" They all cried out, catching Sabretooth's attention just before he walked away. To their absolute horror, he was wearing a getup similar to the men that had captured them.  
Scott could almost feel his eyes glowing behind his glasses as Sabretooth stepped up right in front of him on the other side of the bars. A sick smile slowly spread across his face. "Catch ya later," he said with a tone that gave everyone a chill down their spine. Kitty had a bad feeling about this whole thing that she didn't share with the rest of the team, but now she was downright scared.  
  
"Well would you look at that," a voice said, appearing out of nowhere.  
"Sabretooth," Logan growled.  
"Sabretooth?" Logan asked, his brain once again matching up scent, face and name. And he didn't like this guy's scent, face or name. With another roar, he pulled against his restraints but got backhanded right in the chops for his trouble.  
The leader of the pack from Logan's previous capture was standing beside Sabretooth. "Decisions, decisions," he sneered, "One with an unbreakable metal skeleton and claws to match, and nothing short of mastery over his feral rage..." Sabretooth drilled his fist into Logan's gut. "....And one that is faster, endowed with a better healing factor, and an uncontrollable mean streak. Will the real Weapon X please stand up?"  
Before any questions could be answered by more cryptic mumbo-jumbo, the two men were grabbed and brought to separate rooms. With his hands once again firmly pinned behind his back with enhanced handcuffs, the Logan with adamantium claws was locked in a large room with none other than Sabretooth. "Before you go doin' anything heroic, runt," he said, grabbing Logan by the throat, "Just know that you'll get a real big surprise if you try ta pull those pigstickers on me."  
With that, he leveled his archenemy with one punch. Logan scrambled to his feet as fast as he could with his hands cuffed behind his back, but made the mistake of not heeding Sabretooth's threat. Trying to pop his claws like the last time he was in these things, a jolt of electricity that would have killed anything three times his size was sent right into the tips of his metal claws, which carried it through the rest of his metal bones and just about fried his flesh from the inside.  
"Told ya," Sabretooth spat out as a wide-eyed Logan sank to his knees. Giving his foe only a second to rest, Sabretooth lunged forward and kicked, connecting the toe of his boot with Logan's adam's apple. Head spinning and pain eating at every inch of his body, Logan heard Sabretooth revealing his plans as he attacked, in typical bad guy fashion.  
"Only reason you escaped the last time was 'cuz they thought you were the clone," he continued, landing a crushing blow on his helpless prey in between every few words, "Or else you woulda had those special cuffs from the get-go." Logan suddenly found the strength to lift his knee right where the sun don't shine, doubling Sabretooth over to his height. Almost extending his claws out of instinct, he instead cracked his skull against Sabretooth's, knowing that adamantium would win over bone.  
"Don't think I ain't dangerous just 'cuz I ain't got my claws, bub," he snarled, catching Sabretooth right in the ribs with a running knee-lift. But as his knees connected, Sabretooth grabbed him around the lower back in midair and whipped him down to the floor, skull first. "If it was up ta me, runt," he said, dropping to his knees and putting all 300 plus pounds of himself into choking Logan with his shin, "We'd be havin' this out man to man. But the guys in black, they just want your carcass deleted."  
Logan's healing factor was powerful, but it couldn't supply him with oxygen when he was having the life choked out of him. He played a little possum, seeming to black out when he was still barely clinging to consciousness, and waited until Sabretooth shifted his weight to get up. At this, he took a huge breath in and rolled backwards, tagging Sabretooth in the back of the head with his feet as he flipped over.  
Having his opponent sprawled out on the floor for the first time so far, a crazy idea popped into Logan's head. As the larger mutant climbed to his feet, Logan turned his back and positioned his hands so that Sabretooth's head was held down by the chain of his handcuffs. Kicking backwards, his heel hit Sabretooth's chest with a satisfying thump. Now was the time for that crazy idea. Logan tensed up his arms and popped his claws against his restraints with all his might, planning to take Sabretooth down even if it meant getting himself zapped again.  
The pain ripped through his lungs, his neck, his thighs, everywhere, until he couldn't hold himself up anymore. Everything from his legs to his shoulders gave out, and he crumpled to the floor limp as a noodle with his healing factor barely able to keep up with the damage being done. Sabretooth, meanwhile, got back up and started chuckling at the pathetic effort of his one-time teammate. Of course they had built his restraints to only conduct the electricity into his claws, they weren't stupid.  
He grabbed the fallen runt by the neck and lifted him up. He was barely breathing, but breathing nonetheless. The boys in black said that there was a limit to what Wolverine's healing factor could do, and Sabretooth was determined to find it. Besides, he didn't get his paycheck for letting a pair of hyped-up handcuffs do his work for him. They wanted him to kill Weapon X, then he was going to kill him with his bare hands like he always wanted to.  
  
"We've gone through great lengths to bring you here, you know," the man in black said to the man with the bone claws, who was pinned to a chair just like his metal-boned counterpart had been before. Except his bone claws weren't strong enough to break through the cuffs.  
"Aw, you shouldn't have," he said, his words just barely understandable.  
"Now I know what you're thinking," the man in charge continued, "'Why did these low-life government agents launch a very involved scheme just to get me here, when they have someone just like me, plus an indestructable skeleton, in the next room. Well contrary to what it looks like, you are in many ways better for our purposes than the gentlemen that is being terminated as we speak."  
"Cut the crap and just tell me what you want with me.  
"Well since you asked so nicely...we're going to turn you into the ultimate mutant killing machine, and you can cooperate or not. Guess which option old tin bones picked." 


	5. V

At that very moment, the X-Men looked up to see Sabretooth emerge from the room he had gone into with one of the Logans a while ago. His black gloves were torn apart, probably from the inside by his own razor-sharp nails, and his hands were drenched in blood. The sight made Ororo's blood run cold, but it was a few more seconds before the meaning registered in her mind. Looking inside the door for a brief moment, she saw Logan - one of the Logans - laying in a pool of his own blood.  
Presently, Kitty's eyes met with the same horrible sight, and she didn't take it quite as well as the other X-woman. "MR. LOGAN!" She shrieked, about to rush up to the bars on her cell, but was held back by Scott as one of those zapper things was swung just outside the bars by one of the guards. Kitty started shaking a little in his arms, but to his surprise she didn't shed a tear.  
It was a sad scene, Scott, Kitty and Ororo silently fearing the worst. Wait a minute...Scott, Kitty, Ororo...where were Evan and Kurt? "Oh no," Scott whispered to himself. As if on cue, Nightcrawler and Spyke came barreling in from stage left. Kurt, the fastest guy they had, was largely a distraction while Evan attacked with everything he could muster. His jersey already looked like swiss cheese.  
Cyclops silently thanked God for Danger Room training, as Spyke was able to expertly shoot his namesakes to disarm every guard in record time. "Storm?" He asked, nodding towards the battle. "Be my guest," she said, her eyes glowing with anticipation. Scott tipped his shades and blew open the jail cell, and the rest of the X-Men joined in.  
Seeing that the odds weren't looking so good now that the X-Freaks were using their powers to defend themselves, Sabretooth used his cat-like reflexes to pick off Nightcrawler by the neck just before he BAMFed. A wicken grin melted into a contorted look of pain, however, as Spyke launched about ten projectiles right into Sabretooth's torso.  
Suddenly, the battle took a drastic turn as another door burst open and Wolverine, in full battle gear, exploded onto the scene. When Spyke hit the floor, however, Kitty saw that despite what she wanted to believe, this wasn't the Wolverine she knew...  
When he had seen what was left of Logan, that was when he made his decision. These guys played for keeps. He had no idea that they couldn't possibly do the same to him because of his healing factor, superior to Wolverine and Sabretooth. But anyway, he was being offered two very important things. A chance to make his own name and not be discarded as 'the clone of Weapon X.'  
And, deep down in his mind, which was considerably more bloodthirsty than the original Logan, he liked the idea of being the ultimate mutant killer. He hadn't killed the little girl in the forest because she posed no threat to him. Not so much a threat, as...a challenge. But mutant against mutant? He could live with that.  
  
Logan's eyes almost opened, but jammed shut tight as a cry of pain gurgled in his throat. The Blob had used him as a mattress, Juggernaut had Head Crushed him through a twelve inch steel door, but this was by far the worst he'd ever gotten beat up. In his dazed state created by unbelievable pain, loss of blood and too many shots to the head, he vaguely remembered Sabretooth destroying him. And those handcuffs. It took a great effort not to let the pain get to him as he struggled up to his feet. He felt the deep gashes in his chest, arms...wait, he could feel them.  
Down at his feet were the electrical handcuffs, snapped open. He almost lost his footing as he tried to figure out what had happened since he passed out from the pain. He couldn't have escaped the cuffs, that was one. Two, Sabretooth intended to kill him, and judging by the extent of his wounds, he'd found that limit of his healing factor. '....If it was up ta me, runt, we'd be havin' this out man to man...' No way.  
  
Cyclops and Storm budgeted their combined firepower between keeping Sabretooth at bay and taking out every new wave of guards that got back up. They must have been wearing some kind of armor under all that black, Scott figured, as they were getting up from some hard hits. Nightcrawler was barely staying one step ahead of bone claws Wolverine, after finding out the hard way that this version was faster and more agile than the original.  
Soon, the numbers game overwhelmed the X-Men, and Spyke found himself blocking Wolverine's claws with his bony body armor only to get zapped in the kidneys. Kitty phased through a pair of armed men, shorting out their zappers. But she didn't phase through someone hitting her like a freight train from behind. Slammed against the wall, Kitty was easy prey for Wolverine.  
She'd been here before, having him just inches away from killing her. And through the memories he'd retained from the original Weapon X, he had been there too. And just like last time, he sheathed his claws. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kitty never saw his open hand coming until it smashed her in the face. He had inherited some memories from Logan, but certainly not his honor.  
From out of nowhere, Nightcrawler came charging. Wolverine turned and swung high at the agile elf, only to find that Kurt had slid across the floor. Placing a three-fingered hand on Wolverine's leg, Nightcrawler BAMFed them through the wall that he was already sliding towards. Cyclops had taken some damage at the hands of Sabretooth, and Storm had just about wiped every human in the room out by casting a web of lightning bolts.  
As the two remaining mutants faced each other, yet another door flew open. Out stepped Nightcrawler, twirling around his finger a zapper he had grabbed off one of the guards. Right beside him, and barely standing at that, was Logan. His healing factor having been pushed too far, Logan was bleeding profusely from numerous lacerations, but he still looked ready for anything with his adamantium claws out.  
He and Sabretooth stared at each other for a while before tearing into each other. Despite the fact that he had mercy on his enemy before, Sabretooth pulled no punches as he whooped Logan, who was in an almost paralyzing amount of pain. But all that mattered was that his claws were out. Now it was a fair fight, and now Sabretooth could kill him.  
But, as two shots rang out, the scales were again tipped as Logan hit the floor and the leader of the pack stepped out from behind yet another door, holding the smoking gun. In a blink, however, the injured Cyclops blasted the man down the hall. Sabretooth, meanwhile, had picked Logan up by the collar and nailed him again. As the runt fell, the elf snuck in low and zapped Sabretooth senseless like he had done to bone claws Wolverine. With that, the X-Men picked up their injured and booked out of the police station with their collective tail between their legs.  
  
They were a sorry sight, but they had come away from the ordeal alive. Cyclops had taken his share of hits but was OK to give Logan a shoulder to lean on. Spyke, still goofy from his zapping, was being dragged by Storm and Nightcrawler. Shadowcat was bleeding a bit from her lip, but was more emotionally shaken than anything. One of the reasons for her distress was that by the time they got to the Blackbird, Logan might be dead.  
As the walking wounded rounded a corner, they jumped at a gunshot ricocheting off a No Parking sign just a few feet behind them. Scott, the ever-responsible X-man, had a deep-rooted anxiety, if not a fear, of letting the destructive power behind his sunglasses loose. But he was having a really bad day, and now was as good a time as any to come out of his shell. "Thats it," he said, stopping in his tracks and letting Logan lean on a parked car, "Now the shades are off."  
Turning back around the corner, Scott vaguely saw some figures moving down the block before he whipped off his ruby quartz sunglasses and decimated half the block in about four seconds. He put his glasses back on and dashed back to his teammates, who, in a reversal of roles, were currently forming a strategy while their leader was breaking stuff.  
"You can hot-vire a car?" Kurt asked Ororo. She grinned and casually nodded. "Who vould have thought," the German marveled at the weather witch's hidden talents. He prepared to BAMF them in without setting the alarm off, when Logan jammed his claw down right next to the window and opened the door with a flick of his bloody wrist. "Can we hurry it up," he growled, in obvious agony.  
As they piled into the Mazda 626, Scott was in the passenger seat, Logan was propped up in between Kurt and Kitty with Evan laying across their laps, and Storm furiously working under the dash. "Live and learn," Scott marvelled as Ororo floored it.  
  
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM!"  
"Tougher than I thought."  
"Don't you pull that crap with me."  
"You callin' me a liar, boss?" Getting no response, Sabretooth turned, glancing at Weapon X, and started to walk out. Hearing the faint crackle of a zapper, he spun around to grab the hand of the man in black just as he was about to let him have it. Squeezing until he heard the third crack in his commanding officer's hand, he turned to that the trembling man in black was in between himself and Weapon X.  
"Listen up, suit, you can tell yer little test tube weapon what ta do, but you don't boss me around. You wouldn'ta got half this far without my help, so you can keep yer money and lemme finish off Wolverine by myself." With that, he let go of the broken hand, pushed the front door off its hinges, and left. 


	6. VI

The headlights only gave Ororo about 6 feet to see in front of her, which didn't leave her with good odds to drive through the pitch black forest to the Blackbird without crashing and burning. In her haste to dodge one tree, however, she almost hit one head-on. Among everyone's screams, Kitty stretched her powers further than she ever had before and phased the car out. This left her almost in tears due to a massive headache. And, unfortunately, due to the nature of her power, the car battery had died.  
With Storm taking to the air and spotting the Blackbird, the X-Men slowly hobbled toward their craft. Logan was fading fast, despite Scott's efforts to keep him awake. "Come on, man, stay with us," he said, smacking his teammate lightly on the cheek. With Kurt struggling to drag Evan along, Kitty was lagging behind and becoming more and more disoriented with every step.  
"You OK, girl?" Evan asked.  
"You're alright?" She blinked, almost losing her balance turning her head to look at him.  
"Sure, sure...just a little crispy around the edges."  
"Zen vould you mind getting off of me?" Kurt grumbled, letting Evan stand on his own two feet. As Kitty steadied herself on Kurt, who was beginning to feel like the team crutch, a shout or two echoed through the trees. Followed immediately by a bolt of lightning, courtesy of Storm. With his keen night vision, Nightcrawler could see that there were more armed men in black uniforms surrounding the Blackbird.  
Without a word, he and Kitty disappeared with a BAMF. A second later, he re-appeared and ported Scott and Logan onto the jet. Evan was next. With both boys aboard, the BAMF-happy elf took a breather as everyone secured themselves. Kitty sat down and seemed just a little dizzy, but in her head she was fighting hard not to freak out. Scott pulled a first aid kit from under a seat and threw it to Evan to help Logan with.  
Mumbling about a screen door in a submarine, Spyke took out a tiny roll of bandages and tried to wrap at least some of Logan's wounds. Scott, meanwhile, manned the pilot seat and kicked the jet into gear. Seeing a flash out of the corner of his eye, he flipped a switch on his panel and the side door opened, allowing Storm to glide in. As the engines roared to their normal speed, however, Ororo didn't come in from the cold.  
Kurt stepped to the open hatch and peered into the darkness. Suddenly, in a brilliant flash of light and a deafening clap of thunder, Storm was launched into Nightcrawler and both tumbled safely inside. Cyclops closed the doors quickly and lifted off. Sharply turning to avoid crashing into Mt. McKenna, the jet hurled everyone to one side, which was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as Kitty was concerned.  
Being thrown from her chair, she started crying. Her face stung a little when she tried to hold it back again, but the drama she'd been put through today was too much. Being locked up, seeing Mr. Logan like that, getting slapped hard by the other Logan, phasing the car through the trees...that was the worst. She was really scared when her headache only got worse from that point on. Thats all she was, in fact, scared. The worrying and the pain took a back seat, and she was very scared.  
"Hey, it's OK," Kurt said, plopping down on the floor next to her and putting on a fake grin. She turned away from him a little, just wanting to cry it out herself. But, with a furry finger, he wiped a little trickle of blood from her lip, and also knocked down whatever wall she was trying to put up. "It's not OK," she whispered, looking over at Logan and crying into Kurt's shoulder.  
The jolly elf just couldn't hold up his usual optimistic attitude when he looked at his falled comrade. He'd seen Logan survive stuff that you only saw in cartoons, and now that he thought about it, always associated the eldest X-man with a sense of security simply because he always got back up. And now he was sitting six feet away, either dead or dying.  
As the Blackbird soared down south, the X-Men were oblivious to the danger that was brewing even further down the coast than Bayville. Because, just minutes after their escape and Sabretooth's departure, all the wrong phone calls had been made to a certain maximum security prison to have a certain enhanced mutant transferred the next morning. 


	7. VII

It was still some time before sunrise when the Blackbird arrived back at the Xavier Institute, but the mansion was already buzzing. The Professor had sensed something was wrong quite a while before the X-Men's arrival, and he had Rogue, Jean and Alex on alert when the team emerged from the jet. But nobody was prepared for what stumbled out.  
After a bit of stuttering, Rogue finally squeezed an 'Oh my God' out of her mouth. Logan was a total mess. Kitty looked like she'd been crying for an hour. Jean, without prying too much into everyone's minds, knew that Kitty had been crying for a long time, and that something really bad had happened to Logan, and it wasn't over yet. Not a good trip, overall. The girls rushed Logan to the Institute sick bay, while Alex greeted the rest of the team.  
"Tough time, huh bro?" He said, trying to lighten the mood upon seeing that Cyclops had been beaten up a little.  
"You have no idea...hold on, what's that?" The two brothers, standing right underneath the wing, looked up to see a small blinking light that shouldn't have been there. Quickly grabbing the boarding ladder, they determined that it was some sort of tracking device. Scott, very nervous at the thought of the men in black banging down the front gates, smashed the tiny bug with a wrench.  
Professor X, after checking that everyone was more or less alright, wheeled down to sick bay as fast as he could. He'd telepathically told Kurt to stay with Kitty, as she was still shaken up. As for Logan...well, he himself got a little shaken looking at Logan.  
  
"Is it April Fools Day and everyone forgot to tell me?"  
"I said the same thing, but look at the clearance on this puppy."  
"But him?"  
"Doesn't look like we have a choice."  
And so the two main guards got together some men and a forklift and began their entry through the first of a series of doors that led to Cain Marko's cell. If you could even call it that. A fair argument could be made that the conditions they kept Marko in were completely inhumane, but when you had the unstoppable Juggernaut locked up in your basement, you just had to take every precaution.  
"How are we gonna do this, anyway?" One of the men asked. Would a forklift be enough to even move the massive mutant trapped in a stasis tube filled with bio-paralysis fluid? Amazingly, the lift held up, and soon the whole parade was moving back through the long hallway and out to the waiting armored truck. After making sure everything on the truck was locked down tight, and keeping Juggernaut's helmet locked up in the depths of the prison, the truck pulled away.  
"Sure gonna miss that big lug...not," one of the guards joked.  
"You're gonna be missing a lot, pal," the other guard declared, pulling something out of his pocket and zapping his partner in the back. With that, about half of the group of guards that had escorted Cain Marko to his vehicle put on their black shades and took care of the actual guards. Some went to their vehicles, some activated tiny devices on their belts to scramble any walkie-talkies in the entire complex, and some went dashing back through the tunnel to grab Jug's helmet.  
  
Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning, Scott plopped down at the kitchen table. The sun was bright and the X-Men were...looking at him and trying not to laugh. "Hey Scott," Logan said, "The next time you got a telepath in the sack, try to pick a night when nobody's home." "OH SCOTT!" Kurt joked. "Ah really didn't need that scene projected into mah mind," Rogue said, turning green.  
Scott jumped as he woke up. He'd dozed off in a chair in sick bay, along with half the other X-Men who were keeping an eye on Logan. Weird day, weird dreams, he figured. Sleep deprivation, weird dreams, too. He looked across the room to Jean, who was also snoozing sitting up, and turned a little red. No way she could read his mind if they were both asleep, right?  
As if on cue, Professor X rolled in, waking everyone up with a gentle telepathic push. Scott didn't like the look of the seriousness painted all over his face. Saying nothing, Xavier grabbed the remote from the arm of Kurt's chair and put on the morning news on the TV in the corner of the room.  
"....Once again our top story this morning is the escape of Cain Marko, the unstoppable mutant convict known as the Juggernaut. In the process of being transferred to another prison--"  
"Zey tried to tranzfer him?!"  
"Shhh!"  
"--Footage before our satellite feed was cut from the scene..." With that, the show cut away to some fuzzy footage of an armored car on a stretch of deserted highway. The shot zoomed in to see blue-clad police officers being attacked by the same black uniforms from the X-Men's adventure in Canada. And separated from the melee, a short guy with a weird mask was opening the back door of the vehicle with claws that popped out of his hands. Just as the doors swung open, the camera shot tipped over sideways and everything turned to static.  
  
Pietro Maximoff, the only teenager in Bayville that voluntarily got up this early during summer vacation, almost choked on his nutri-grain bar. "FREDDY! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!" Fred Dukes had a well documented score to settle with Juggernaut, the only man to ever physically knock the Blob down. The mutant known as Quicksilver hadn't had anything planned for today, but now it looked like he'd get to suit up for the first time since the Asteroid M incident.  
  
Meanwhile, Juggernaut faced off against his rescuers after shaking off the effects of the bio-paralysis juice they kept him in. "You," he said simply to the midget of a man before him with claws coming out of his hands. Swinging a massive fist at the shrimp, who he recognized as one of his brother's cronies, he instead clobbered the side of the armored car and sent it barrel rolling several yards down the road.  
From the side, someone threw him his hemispherical helmet. Without questioning who had tossed it his way, he placed it on his head. The helmet was the finishing touch, the thing that made Juggernaut truly unstoppable. To his surprise, however, all the latches around his neck clamped shut automatically before he could even raise a hand to fasten the first one.  
Just as he realized that he'd been duped, an electric shock scrambled his brains, bringing the mighty mutant to his knees, clutching his helmet with shaking hands. His vision blurred by the jolt, he looked up to see one of the men step up right in front of him, holding a small box in his hand. "I believe we share some common enemies, and a partnership would be mutually beneficial" he said, turning the dial on his controller as Juggernaut made a move for him.  
The surge almost wiping him out, Juggernaut had no choice but to listen to this pencil-necked clown. "In short, Mr. Marko, whether you like it or not, you now work for us." Although he was unable to see it, Jug's new and improved helmet now sported a large white 'X' identical to the one on everyone's uniform and Weapon X's belt buckle. After he gathered himself, the unstoppable stooge followed his new employers to those common enemies.  
  
"We're not gettin' outta this one alive," Rogue said, looking out the window and shaking her head.  
"Thanks for the optimism," Kitty hissed.  
"Hey, look on the bright side, we have Alex this time," Evan offered. The barrage of dirty looks thrown at him closed his mouth for a long time. Havok was walking firepower, they didn't deny that, but Juggernaut was literally invincible. They'd stolen a victory over him the last time, and that was with the Brotherhood at their side. Besides which, although nobody really wanted a reminder, this time they didn't have Wolverine.  
Down in sick bay, only Ororo remained sitting at Logan's bedside. The others had wanted to stay, but at her and the Professor's insisting, they went downstairs to try and prepare for what they knew was coming. Storm, too, should have been down there forming strategy, but she couldn't cry in front of the children, and even now she was just barely holding back the tears. Mother nature, however, didn't have a problem reflecting the weather witch's mood, as dark clouds formed in a matter of seconds and it began pouring.  
Years before Scott Summers, the first student to carry the mantle of X-man, joined the Xavier Institute, Logan and Ororo had been Professor X's pupils. From when she was about Jean's age, Ororo had been learning how to master her vast powers over the elements. At the same time, Logan was taking a crash course in controlling his feral side. Although wheelchair-bound and usually calm, Xavier had gotten in Logan's face on more than one occaision, and as she observed over the years, it made the two men that much closer.  
Charles must be taking his hard on the inside, she thought as she stopped reminiscing and the sad present settled back down. A few mintues later, however, she found herself remembering again. This time, less happy times surfaced in her mind. The times that Logan would come home in the wee hours of the morning, clothes torn and his bike absolutely trashed. No matter how smashed he got, both physically and with alcohol, he was always fine by noon the next day.  
Then there were the times that he didn't come home, and then they knew something was wrong. Logan very seldom found trouble that he couldn't get himself out of by morning. But several times, they had found him not too far from his favorite hangouts, laid out by Sabretooth. But no matter what, he was good as new by the next afternoon.  
Ororo smiled a little in spite of her sadness when she remembered the crush she had on Logan. He was significantly older than her when they started training, but he always stayed the same age and she grew up. She figured out the hard way that she didn't like him any more than a best friend the night he left to do some soul searching, or whatever reason he gave them.  
She wanted to tell him a lot all at once as he roared away on his bike that night, stuff that never even occurred to her until he was almost gone. She'd kicked herself for a while after that, and now she was kicking herself again as she stared blankly at the heart monitor he was hooked up to. It was very unsettling, seeing the fast-healing Wolverine in this condition. Made it seem like the battle was over before it started. If they could do this to Logan, what chance did--  
Cerebro, tied into the defense system on the grounds, sounded the alarm through the whole mansion. "Be well, Logan," she said, getting up in a hurry and kissing him on the forehead before dashing down the hallway. 


	8. VIII

By the time Storm glided out in the rain to join her teammates on the lawn, the front gate had already been busted through like it was made out of paper. Visibility reduced by the downpour, Juggernaut's methodical pace turned into a full-out stampede when he saw the welcome wagon out for him. Within full eyeshot, Jean, Cyclops, Havok and Storm stood shoulder to shoulder, and one floating above. Using ridiculously powerful wind, telekinetic force, and beams shooting out of eyes and hands, the four put out their best effort to stop the unstoppable.  
His feet digging into the earth beneath him, Juggernaut slowed down greatly but could not be stopped. The other X-Men fanning out to join the battle were scattered from their planned formation by Weapon X, who had stealthily taken out the guns and other defenses hidden under the lawn. As the red-clad monster was almost upon them, the Summers brothers and company broke off their offense to get the heck out of dodge.  
Juggernaut skidded to a stop and turned quickly. Cyclops rolled to a halt and spun around, hand moving to his visor for the next charge. But to his surprise, another mammoth mutant stood in his way. Cain Marko walked right into every ounce of Fred J. Dukes, who dented his helmet right on the X with a huge right hand. As had as it was to imagine the Blob sneaking up on anyone, nobody from either side of the battle had noticed Freddy or the rest of the Brotherhood until they found themselves fighting right beside them.  
"What the--" Toad, crouched in a battle stance, did a double take upon seeing Wolverine fighting against Nightcrawler. "A little help here?" Kurt said as he leaped by with Weapon X breathing down his neck. Todd shrugged and whipped his tongue out, sliming Weapon X's mask over. Although blinded, the Wolverine lookalike could still hear the wart-faced punk laughing, so he lunged in that direction.  
Caught off guard, Toad leaped back several times, and then did a backwards flip landing on a tree limb. Taking a breather, he looked down helplessly as Weapon X cleared his eyes and started hacking at the tree. This guy didn't have the metal claws, Todd noticed when he saw that he didn't slice the tree down immediately.  
On ground level, the clawed lumberjack saw a brief flash of Kitty as she phased through from the other side of the tree and then right through him. Spinning with claws outstretched, he swung and went right through her. Making herself solid at just the right moment, Shadowcat kicked Weapon X square in the gonads. As he doubled over, Toad descended and landed with a two-footed stomp right on the back of his head. Caught up in the moment, the two enemies shared a high five, which ended with Kitty crying out and trying in vain to shake the slime off her hand.  
Slowly climbing to his feet, X looked at two boots standing right before his eyes. "Guess one runt's as good as another," Sabretooth snarled, uppercutting him backwards into the tree trunk. His advantage was short-lived, however, as he looked sideways to see the boss man leveling a gun at him. "Mr. Creed, your services are no longer needed," he said flatly, firing a few exploding shells into Sabretooth, blasting the 'X' off his uniform in addition to half his shoulder and midsection.  
Avalanche, Quicksilver and Spyke turned in the direction of a large group of men in black uniforms coming towards the battle. "Rock and roll," Lance said, rolling his eyes back and clenching his fists. "Lookout!" Pietro shouted, pushing Lance off balance before he stomped his foot down. Avalanche's eyes popped open just as Weapon X's claws plunged through his helmet just a hair's breath away from his head, shattering the pieces into his eyes.  
Spyke launched three quick spikes right into X's mask, sending him reeling backwards trying to pick the bone shards out of his face. "You OK?" Pietro asked Lance, who was furiously rubbing his eyes until he realized that made it hurt more.  
"Yeah, fine, just point me in the right direction and I'll shake things up."  
"Hey man, this is my house! You're gonna trash everything if you can't see where you're 'shaking!'"  
"So what's he gonna do, sit on the bench, coach?"  
Without a word, Rogue walked up and touched the back of Lance's neck. He fell face-down in the wet dirt, and she cracked her knuckles and gave the two arguing boys a glare.  
"Hey, thats fine with me," Evan said quickly.  
"No problem here," Pietro added.  
Presently, a thunderous explosion prompted everyone on all sides of the free-for-all to look. It was impossible to tell who had knocked who down, but Blob and Juggernaut were now pummeling each other on the ground. The more it rained, the softer the ground got, and the more of a disadvantage the clumsy Fred faced. That coupled with the fact that Cain had much more battle experience, being old enough to be the boy's father, made the fight a testament to the Blob's mutant toughness.  
Staggering to his feet, Sabretooth quietly accepted the pain and used it to get that much more fired up. He'd originally followed the boys in black to try and take out Logan, but now that they'd given him the pink slip, it was time to paint the town red. Dashing to the closest black suit he could find, he picked the man up by the back of his shirt and cracked his back with one punch. Cyclops couldn't help but pause in confusion when he saw Sabretooth fighting on his side.  
Presently, half of the locks on Juggernaut's helmet came snapping off after about the tenth solidly landed punch by the Blob. Then, and only then, did Cain Marko's mean streak kick in. Usually reserved for his dear family members, Cain directed all his hatred into one simple thought: Nobody knocks off the Juggernaut's helmet. Battling back furiously, Jug's fists crashed into the Blob with scary accuracy for someone in such a blind rage.  
Deep into their own smaller battles with Weapon X and the rest of the black suits, the other mutants briefly turned their attention to the clash of the titans just in time to see Fred Dukes get knocked out. As the mammoth mutant hit the mud with both a thud and a splat, his fellow Brotherhood members virtually froze in place. Since they'd known Freddy, it had been a given fact that he never lost in a fist fight. And although the portion of his body armor that extended to his knuckles was mangled painfully around his fists, Juggernaut had clearly won.  
Storm was the first to react to the change in the roster, downing a wall of black uniforms and hurling lightning bolts at Juggernaut. If nobody challenged him, he would undoubtedly rampage into the mansion, where the Professor and Logan were helpless to stop him. But, helmet loosened and all, Jug shrugged off the lightning storm and turned toward the institute.  
The soft ground broke apart with a slight sucking noise as Rogue tried to hold off Juggernaut with Avalanche's power. The irresistable force was temporarily caught up, but instead of clumsily lifting his feet he simply trudged through the dirt with ease. The noise behind Rogue went unnoticed, as Lance's seismic abilities were hard to control. When Weapon X popped up from her blind side and dug his claws through her uniform, however, she noticed.  
As she was taken down hard and cut deep by six bone claws, Rogue's scream caught everyone's attention. Cyclops was the first to respond, shooting a narrow force beam from his visor that clipped X neatly in the back of the head while he was mounted on top of his victim. The black-clad mutant went sprawling out a few yards but rolled behind a crowd of his human teammates to avoid getting blasted again.  
Sabretooth was tearing apart the opposition, oblivious to the other mutants, when he almost tripped on a fallen body. It was the girl with the skunk streak in her hair. He paid her no mind until he saw that she'd been skewered by the runt. Pausing momentarily to look at the wounded girl, something that always entertained him, he growled in surprise when his hand started moving toward her face.  
Having been absorbed by her once before, Sabretooth knew not to touch her. But he was just barely pulling his arm away."You have to help her," a voice said. He looked up with a snarl to see Jean, with her hands outstretched.  
Sabretooth strained every muscle, but Jean's telekinesis had been recharged since trying to stop Juggernaut, and at last his clawed hand touched Rogue's cheek. With a groan, he fell backwards and just barely stayed conscious as his healing factor was drained, leaving him unable to compensate for his multiple shotgun wounds.  
  
Just a few yards away from the brawl his students were engaged in, Professor X waited anxiously at the base of the stairs. He got a mental picture of what was going on, who was down and out, but he couldn't get a clear telepathic connection with Juggernaut or Weapon X. This made him nervous, but the usually cool and collected Charles Xavier was struck with absolute fear when his half-brother came exploding through the wall across the room.  
In quite possibly the stupidest move of his daredevil career, Nightcrawler BAMFed in directy in front of Juggernaut, with hopes of 'porting him back outside before he could get to the Professor. He sadly underestimated the big man's speed, however, and had to leap sideways to avoid being trampled. Kurt realized that he should have planned his move better just before Juggernaut backhanded him through a window.  
"Brother, I've been waiting a long time for this," Cain said in a surprisingly calm voice. "Remember when I was ten and I cracked dad's pool cue on your back? Cuz your bald carcass looks even more like a cue ball now than ever." Xavier's eyes widened as his demonic half-brother stomped closer and closer.  
"Forgot to chalk up, Jughead," a voice said from behind. Jug spun around, seeing only a paper flying off a desk in the corner. Turning back around, however, he saw Quicksilver standing between him and Charles, holding a fire extinguisher. Before he could make a move, the white-haired mutant blasted him right in the face, coating his mask with the white substance and getting it in his eyes and mouth, up his nose, and through the gap in his helmet before zooming off with Professor X and wheelchair in tow.  
Being wheeled outside in a blur of speed, the Professor was in disbelief. Magneto's son had just saved his life. But how long could the Brotherhood and X-Men hold off Weapon X and Juggernaut? The answer came sooner than he would have liked, as the unstoppable mutant came crashing through another wall and back outside.  
Pietro had no sooner shifted his weight to one foot than three claws and a fist shot by his face. Trying to zoom out of harms way, he stumbled over Weapon X's leg, placed in between his own, and fell awkwardly to the ground. Professor X tried to stop the masked mutant with a psychic blast, only to discover the same blockage that Juggernaut's helmet gave him. X kicked Quicksilver right in the face, knocking the boy out before he even got halfway to his feet.  
Following his teammate's lead, Jug slowed down his mad charge, wound up his leg, and punted his brother's wheelchair a good twenty feet across the lawn. Xavier's verbal and telepathic cry of pain as he tumbled along the ground like a skiier flailing down a mountain jarred everyone in the midst of their battles. Jean, being tuned in to telepathy much more than anyone, was shocked at the numbing fear she picked up from the Professor.  
Not that far away, Professor X's mental plea for help was recieved by someone else. Eyes slowly opening a crack and adjusting to the light, he mumbled incoherently as he tried to shake that disoriented feeling. He knew what was going on right in his backyard, that mental image had said it all. They needed his help out there, he decided as he swung his feet over the edge of the bed and met with a wave of dizzyness, healing factor or not. 


	9. IX

Juggernaut plodded over to his brother's twitching form, ready to crush him like a grape. Not bothering to waste time with an evil phrase, the giant was stopped in his tracks by that insane electric shock ripping him apart from ear to ear. "That's not how our deal goes, Mr. Marko," the man holding the helmet's controller in his hand said.  
"When...do you guys...ever learn...I don't make deals!" But the mighty mutant was more than ready to change his tune after another shock tore through him.  
"First you kill the original Weapon X, then we let you have your dear brother." With a grunt and a shake of his head to clear the cobwebs, Juggernaut turned back toward the mansion and went to find Wolverine. The leader of the agents in black costumes, one hand wrapped up courtesy of Sabretooth's crushing grip and the other clutching the device, was all smiles. That is, until a disgustingly long tongue whipped the tiny controller from his hand.  
Snatching the shock box in the air, Toad toggled one of the switches, trying to figure out how to zap Juggernaut. In his haste to try every button on the small gadget, he didn't see the man in black draw another gun with his good hand. Just as Todd felt the box vibrate and saw Cain grab his helmet with a cry of pain, a beam shot just a hair behind him.  
Deciding at the last second not to break the guy's legs off, Havok instead aimed his blast at the ground right in front of the man. Firing a shot into the air as he fell, the leader did draw the attention of the remaining men in black, who began gunning for Toad like he had a bullseye painted on his costume. The agile mutant jumped sideways and back again, barely keeping his hide clear of fire.  
His fifth jump was blocked by something large, and upon inspection Todd really wished he looked before he leapt. Juggernaut grabbed the boy by his scruffy hair and viciously whipped him around, causing him to drop the shock box on the soaking wet grass. With a thunderous stomp, Jug crushed the box and once again regained his freedom to destroy whoever he wanted.  
Just for good measure, he lifted his foot and looked under, just to make sure his only weakness had been reduced to scrap. To his disbelief, the device was nowhere to be found! His wide eyes slowly went from the crater his foot had made to the brown ponytail that was rising out of the ground several yards away. Phasing back to the surface, Shadowcat smiled sweetly and waved at Juggernaut before gently flipping the switch on the shock box.  
The macho Cain Marko screamed like a girl as his gray matter was almost charred black by the voltage. Now that he was standing still, Jean Grey was able to telekinetically unlatch the sizzling headgear, but not before Jug collapsed to the ground in a twitching heap. "Whoops," Kitty said, "Guess I, like, overdid it."  
With the unstoppable Juggernaut defeated, the odds were now firmly in favor of the X-Men, but they still had to face Weapon X without Nightcrawler, Sabretooth or any members of the Brotherhood. And any clone of Wolverine was certainly not to be underestimated. Plunging claws-first into the opposition like the cornered animal he was, Weapon X scattered the teenage superheroes and set his sights on the smallest one in the pack.  
Knowing that Kitty would turn intangible before he could sink a claw into her, he focused on bringing down Spyke. This proved harder than he thought, as the boy had a huge reach advantage if he produced the longest spikes he possibly could. Unable to strike, he quickly lost his speed advantage, but had the presence of mind to duck and dodge each attack from the remaining mutants.  
His strategy, or lack thereof, quickly changed to suit the growing feeling of desperation, and pretty soon he was in a berserker rage. In his frantic slashing at anything that moved, he grabbed a fistful of blond hair and nearly decapitated Havok before the boy could shoot a force beam at close range. Throwing his own strategy out the window in favor of helping his baby brother, Cyclops socked X right in the jaw.  
The shorter mutant staggered back a bit, but before he even regained his balance he took a shot at Scott. Slicing the ruby-quartz visor in half at the bridge of Cyclops' nose, he also stabbed into the boy's right temple with another claw before the protective eyewear fell apart and the optic beams hit him point blank.  
Sliding in the mud a good ten feet after he'd been launched across the lawn, even X's advanced healing factor took a while to mend the crushing impact against his head and chest. Unfortunately for him, while Sabretooth may have been put out of commission, Rogue was still hairy and at the moment feeling very feral. "No...don't..." he hoarsely begged as he was lifted to a standing position and then off his feet by the throat.  
"Ro...please...they made me do it...they forced me...you gotta help me..."  
Storm's fierce expression softened just a little. What if he was telling the truth?  
"Force this," a voice came from behind, and in a metallic flash the clone was cut from Rogue's grip and hurled to the ground. The X-Men collectively gasped as Wolverine, the real Wolverine, appeared in his orange and black costume. The smell of his significant other seemed to revitalize Weapon X, and he lunged without hesitation.  
Wolverine grunted as bone claws dug into his midsection, but quickly responded by plunging his adamantium claws into his impostor's neck and savagely tearing the black mask from his face. The intensity of the struggle prompted the X-Men to step back a little and stare in awe. Suddenly, Weapon X, too, seemed to stop in place and stare blankly.  
Logan's vision, blurring more and more the longer the fight wore on, focused behind his opponent to see Professor X proppoed up against his overturned wheelchair and both hands pressed against his bald head. Although he would have liked to settle it man to man, Wolverine didn't look a psychically paralyzed gift horse in the mouth. Turning his body to put the most momentum into a single slash, he neatly struck down the black-clad clone.  
Upon seeing Weapon X fall, Jean wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but as the fallen mutant's wounds healed and he groaned back to consciousness, she was reminded that this was the toughest enemy they'd ever faced. "Go help the Prof," Logan suddenly ordered the team. Caught off-guard by the command, Kitty and Evan looked at one another and then broke away from the group to help their teacher.  
"I meant all of you," he said, eyeing the remaining X-Men.  
"Logan--" Ororo began.  
"You don't wanna see this, 'Ro," he almost snarled. As the others slowly backed off and turned their attention to the Professor, Wolverine's jaw clenched as he ran his hand over the new set of claw marks carved into him. But no amount of pain could keep him from finishing this fight. Even if it took his last breath...better none of him than two of him in this universe.  
As Professor Xavier was helped back into his chair, Kitty glanced over her shoulder and did a double-take when she saw that both Wolverine and Weapon X were gone. 


End file.
